| Summary: | Chinese language textbooks play an important role in the chinese classroom, but how much do they influence the reader? This study examines how chinese society is portrayed and percived by swedish students who studied chinese during upper secondary school. How is the image of China and its culture reproduced in Swedish upper secondary schools, partly through the Confucius Institute, and without the influence of the chinese government, and what role does textbooks play in students perception of China? This study was conducted through anthropological interviews through the video call program zoom. Four interviews where conducted with three students and one former chinese teacher, wich resulted in six hours of material. Two textbooks where used, New Practical Chinese Reader by Hanban and Kinesiska språket I Mittens rike by Björksten to compare a government issued textbook, and one independently produced one. The theoretical concepts used in this study are: Intercultural competence, sociocultural authority and sociopragmatic relations. The study found that multifaceted representation of culture is important, especially in cases where the students have a narrow understanding of the culture represented. Both textbooks used in this study lacked representation in this regard, however, the govermentaly issued book New Practical Chinese Reader had a much clearer absence of culture and authentic communication wich was perceived in different manners by different interview subjects.
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